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Sunday, 20 November 2011

So... Time for an office update. A while back my boss was firedmade redundant handed a big cheque and politely asked to please, very kindly go away.

Given that his boss had previously left the company, that meant I reported directly into the global head of the division — a man I'd met twice. Briefly. In group settings.

I had a phone conversation with the guy who sort-of replaced my boss. In New York.

Who would I be working for? He didn't know. What would I be doing? He didn't know.

A few weeks later I spoke to him again. By this point they had finally changed my reporting structure such that I reported into this guy. He said the fact that I told him up front that I wasn't particularly good at project management and that I didn't like it very much... Made his job much easier!

Erm. Wow. Thanks.

A few days after that the Chief of Staff called me (also from New York). We chatted about me joining her team. At one point she asked me: You don’t by any chance know anything at all about finance, do you? I mean, if not — don’t worry. The rest of us had to learn it as we went along too.

Actually, I’ve got an MBA in finance and six years of experience in investment research and analysis.

This led to an extended silence, and I began to wonder if (perhaps) I was a little over-qualified for this job. The conversation led to no resolution. Nothing was decided.

Or so I thought...

A few days later she sent somebody else an e-mail, CC-ing me. She said she wanted to set up a meeting to discuss how we should go about transitioning me to her team.

Right.

Then the new big boss in London started. Right away he called me into his office and told me he had big plans for me and my job. The role he had in mind wasn't project management (hooray!), but it also wasn't the same as the stuff I'd spoke with the Chief of Staff about.

Right.

So then this guy took away my last project so I could focus on his stuff. But the guy he gave it to already had a lot of things on the go. So he complained to his boss.

Then his boss decided that since all my projects had been taken away, clearly I had a lot of spare time. And so he took one of this guy's other projects away from him and gave it to me.

To summarise... Until recently I had very little work, and what I did have I hated. I had one boss, and he didn't even know who I was. Now I have four bosses all with completely contradictory ideas about what it is I'm meant to be doing.